On June 23-25, the Cornell University College of Medicine welcomed veterinary educators to network and learn at the Cornell Veterinary Educators Academy (CVEA) conference entitled, “Promoting Student Reflection and Self-Regulated Learning in Classrooms and Clinics.”

The second in-person conference had roughly 60 participants from institutions across the country, as well as from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Colombia, and included sessions, workshops and panel discussions.

“This was the academy’s first opportunity to welcome people to Cornell,” says Katherine Edmondson, M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’89, assistant dean for outreach in health professions education and director of the Cornell Veterinary Educators Academy. “It was wonderful to gather so many engaged and enthusiastic colleagues together at our college. People came away inspired and ready to apply what they learned over the weekend.”

Featured speakers included Amy Greenberg, interim director of clinical experiences at the College of Human Medicine of Michigan State University, who spoke on self-regulated learning and presented her research on medical students that revealed specific learning behaviors students engage in as they enact a self-regulated framework.

Carmelina Price, lecturer in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University and also a featured speaker, gave a talk entitled “Narrative medicine: bearing witness to ourselves and each other,” which laid out the practice of narrative medicine and how it hones the skill of attention, representation and affiliation between patients and providers.

Third featured speaker Dr. Sheila Quinn, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, held a workshop called “Read, write, reflect: Workshopping narrative veterinary practice.” In it, participants were guided through a piece of creative writing in response to writing prompts, and were welcomed to share the work with the group.

Two noteworthy panel discussions featured Cornell faculty. Associate dean for education Jodi Korich, D.V.M. ’97, facilitated a session titled “Cornell Learning Communities Program: a community-based approach to professional identity development” that included Dr. Ricardo de Matos, Katelyn Carney, D.V.M. ’06, Kate Buckley ’01, and Dr. Erica Behling-Kelly. Meredith Miller, ’03, D.V.M. ’07, de Matos and Jamie Morrissey, D.V.M. ’92, also built upon the conference theme of reflection in “The Healer’s Art at Cornell: exploring the inner life of veterinary medicine through reflection, sharing, and listening,” with a panel comprising faculty and previous students who had taken the course.

The event was meaningful for both presenters and attendees. De Matos noted he enjoyed the conference topics, networking and sharing of ideas and perspectives. “I am also grateful for the opportunity to participate and present.”

Carney echoed these sentiments: “It was really a delightful conference,” she says. “I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and got some great take-aways that I'm looking forward to implementing.”

“This conference emphasized the interrelationships between learning, reflection, and wellbeing. The sessions were thought-provoking, and in addition to new learning, prompted reflection among all of us who attended,” says Edmondson. “I’m proud of the work and inspiration we ignited during this event, and look forward to doing more.”

Written by Lauren Cahoon Roberts

Photos by Carol Jennings